War internment camp gains landmark status

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Part of a former World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans has been officially designated a National Historical Landmark.

The 42-acre landmark was part of the Tule Lake Relocation-Segregation Camp in a remote area of Northern California near the Lava Beds National Monument just south of the Oregon border.

More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were displaced from their homes across the West and put in 10 relocation camps during the war. Tule Lake was the largest center, with a peak population of 18,789 detainees.

Last year, a National Park Service advisory board unanimously recommended the designation for the area that was part of the 7,400-acre camp. It was designated as a relocation center in 1942 and converted to the nation's only segregation center in 1943.